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How this HVAC manufacturer saved on their replacement costs with photo documentation | LoadProof

 


1. Introduction

LoadProof is a Centralized Enterprise Photo Documentation System (patent pending) for Supply Chain. Recently a HVAC Manufacturer implemented LoadProof in their seven facilities. This document describes the benefits that were accrued and the associated dollar savings.

This HVAC Manufacturer is a global corporation that designs, manufactures and sells heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) products, systems, parts and services for commercial buildings. Since 2006, McQuay has been a subsidiary of HVAC Manufacturer Industries, Ltd. McQuay world headquarters are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Products are sold by a global network of sales representatives and distributors.

Since its founding in Osaka in 1924, this HVAC Manufacturer has expanded business focused primarily on-air conditioning to over 150 countries. Aiming to help solve social and community problems and grow business, this HVAC Manufacturer strives to meet expectations and maintain trust worldwide as a global company that supports human health and comfort while creating new value for air and the environment.

2. What is the Problem?

This HVAC Manufacturer being an industrial products manufacturer had all the challenges a typical industrial products manufacturer would have in their Supply Chain. HVAC Manufacturer manufactures, assembles and ships all HVAC systems on time and to the customer’s site in perfect condition so the deployment of these HVAC systems can be done smoothly as part of construction or starting up new facilities that is already going on. If you really think about it, these are products that are purchased out of somebody’s capital projects and budgets. So, somebody is investing big time constructing large buildings that need these HVAC systems.  So, it is very important for HVAC Manufacturer Warehouse Manager to do his part of the job thoroughly and deliver them on time.

Usually when a customer buys HVAC Manufacturer’s HVAC system, it is for another large building that is being constructed. There are several other projects that are going on in parallel to get the construction of the building completed as per the plan. So, it is very important for HVAC Manufacturer to absolutely get the HVAC system at the construction site on time otherwise the construction of the building could be delayed. This not only increases the timeline, but also increases the cost of the overall construction because all the other vendors that have dependency on the completion of the HVAC installation part of the project needs to wait, which directly contributes to the increase in the overall cost of the construction project. Sometimes there are also penalty clauses if the product does not arrive on time at the right place.

This HVAC Manufacturer personnel did everything right to make sure the HVAC systems are packed perfectly, with all the stretch wrapping, dunnage and any other tight packing required. However, the large HVAC systems would arrive at the construction site with scratches, damages, sometimes even missing parts. So this HVAC Manufacturer warehouse personnel started taking Photos in order to prove that they did their job right as Photos are worth thousand words, so later in the case of damage or anything else that happened to the shipment, this HVAC Manufacturer can go back to the customer and or carrier and show them the Photos they took, so they can prove that they did their job right and anything happened after the product let their facility it was not their fault.

There were a couple of options to take pictures,

1. Use the old school digital camera
2. Use warehouse personnel smart phones,
There were personnel taking pictures but there was no central system to store the photos that were taken.

The lack of a central system, lack of an easier way to retrieve the Photos and the lack of an easier way to share the Photos, all made it very difficult for this HVAC Manufacturer to prove that they did their job right. The only option for this HVAC Manufacturer was to eat the cost, meaning if any damage or any part was missed, this HVAC Manufacturer would just blindly replace it for free, absorbing the cost.

By doing this, not only this HVAC Manufacturer was losing money, but also this HVAC Manufacturer was losing its reputation. Hence there was this absolute need to find a solution as soon as possible.

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